I disagree with that - since 09/10 Chelsea have lost Ballack, Cole, Deco and Zhirkov, all of whom made pretty crucial contributions to the double winning campaign (around 30-40 appearances and important goals / assists). More importantly, Lampard and Drogba seem to have declined markedly over the last season. If Lampard and Drogba recapture their 09/10 form, or the chavs find adequate replacements for them, then they will challenge for the title this season, but they don't seem to be firing thus far. Either way, I don't think Chelsea are as good as their 09/10 team. They're still probably a better team than City tho, and have a roughly equivalent squad.
To be honest, I wasn't sure what year the likes of Ballack, Deco and Cole left. They all contributed highly, especially Ballack who was linked with us quite a lot back in his Leverkusen days if I remember correctly? A lot depended on the likes of Lampard and Drogba but you don't turn into bad players all of a sudden, especially Drogba who still looks hungry to me. The core of the team is quite similar however, I think it will just be a matter of time before they eventually start firing. If they do, I'd regard them the bigger threat than City. Not that I don't rate City, but I don't think they're quite as good as Chelsea, nor do they have their experience in winning leagues and getting to the crunch in the Champions League. I think it will be interesting to see City in the CL. Logic says they should do good if they employ their "Italian" way of playing.
If only we had a league with 20 teams in it, who played each other twice over the course of the previous year to work out the answer to this question. oh wait!!!!!!!!!
The best team must surely now be Arsenal the way their fans are going on after their victory tonight over a mediocre Italian side.
